This past weekend I spent eight hours watching the 1994 television adaptation of Stephen King’ epic ‘The Stand’. The 1000+ page novel is one I have not read.  What I have read of King’s I have loved.  He is not only a brilliant writer, but an authority on the history and nature of his genre.  ’Carrie’ is his first published book, and it is remarkable.  It spawned a film which made history as one of the first VERY good horror films made in the US.  Horror films almost never attract good casts and writers, being relegated to the ‘trash’ side of things. But in Japan, Korea and increasingly Europe as well, this genre utilizes the BEST people in the business.  The US, largely, does not.  ’The Stand’ needs its 8 hours.  This novel could not be done in a 2 or even a 3 hour film without losing valuable information.  The cast lies somewhere between A and B list.  The thing about using less than stellar casts is that they tend to look a little more like real people than say…Julia Roberts who looks like, Julia Roberts.  This is a story about normal people taking part in the deciding battle between Good and Evil.  Quick synopsis (no spoilers I promise) is easy: The world is largely destroyed by a lethal (man made) virus.  In the US (the rest of the world is not mentioned) a few thousand people survive.  

In dreams, they are drawn to two places and people: Mother Abigail Freemantle, a 106 year old black woman in Nebraska played by the phenomenal Ruby Dee, and Randall Flag, the embodiment of evil in Las Vegas. Those drawn to Mother Abigail travel to Boulder Colorado to establish a new community, while the Others do likewise in Vegas. Eventually, it becomes clear that Flagg is an agent of darkness, and that the ending hinges on the destruction of one of the groups. Opening scenes depicting the death of 99.9 percent of the world’s population are well done.  Molly RIngwald (what happened to her?! Where IS she?!) is effective as the good girl trying to do good.  Ed Harris is reliable as ever, the much underused Gary Sinise as appealing as ever.  The scene stealers are Laura san Giocomo and Rob Lowe, who plays a deaf-mute.  One gets the feeling he should have had a larger role, but this was only a few years after that unfortunate sex-tape, so any work he could get at the time was probably badly needed. With regards to Laura San Giocomo, I have always thought she was an astonishing actor, and am puzzled by her apparent disappearance.  After ‘Just Shoot Me’ went off the air, what happened?!  In any case, she is a phenomenal presence in ‘The Stand’ as the would be Bride of Darkness.  What I took away with me after seeing this, more than anything,  was a sense of how BEAUTIFUL that part of America is. Southpark aside, I don’t know of any other story set in Colorado.  King is very smart to place The Good in a place as beautiful and unspoiled as Boulder, and The Wicked in the tacky Hell that is Vegas.  Overall, the look of The Stand is not big-budget.  Some of the shots are obviously sound stages, but given the Apocalyptic mood pervading, this doesn’t seem to distract.  One realises that if the story is good, and the characters worth caring about, the audience will go along for the ride.  

AFTER finishing The Stand, I almost immediately went and grabbed The Shining, and began on that. Straight away, one knows this is a different kind of entertainment. The Stand was scripted by King, adapting his own novel.  Much of the content is retained, plot is almost religiously followed. The overwhelming mood surrounding The Stand is one of genuine, almost base feeling and emotion.  Heartstrings are pulled and released shamelessly.  The Shining is a far more conceptual/intellectual piece of work.  Kubrick wrote the screenplay himself, and has taken what he wanted from King’s novel (seemingly very little), changed what he wanted (lots, personalities are transplanted, a polo mallet becomes an axe…) and eschewed what he feels superfluous (most of the book).  King is known to dislike the film intensely, and I don’t blame him.  His book is about many things, and the film is about one.  He had the option of writing the screenplay himself, but declined, having heard horror stories (insert irony here) about what Kubrick could be like to work with.  He must have been kicking himself when he saw what Kubrick left of his novel.  

Nonetheless, the film is absolutely astonishing, and genuinely terrifying.  Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall were Kubrick’s first and only choices for their roles. While it does work onscreen, one wonders how.  The point of the novel is they are two relatively normal people who are transformed by a place.  As Torrance, Nicholson is an unusual choice because, well, from the outset he already seems pretty whacky. Duvall is pretty much a nervous wreck from her first moments onscreen. One thinks, how can this work? Where can they go from here?  Well, it does work, because Kubrick manages to send them both even more over the edge than they already are, the end results of which are quite astonishing.  Duvall regularly ran from the set in tears.  She eventually ‘ran out’ of tears due to repeated takes, and had to drink water all day to remain hydrated.   Scatman Crothers (70 at the time of filming) dropped to the ground sobbing after 40 takes, begging Kubrick to tell him what he was doing wrong.  Kubrick, surprise surprise, simply told him to try it again.  An interesting factoid re casting, when it looked like Nicholson might not be able to take part, Kubrick considered two others for the role; Robert de Niro, and Robin Williams.  He vitoed the former as being ‘not psychotic’ enough for the role, and the latter as being ‘too psychotic’.   Does anyone else think Kubrick might have been a bit nuts himself?  Anyway, If you haven’t seen this film, see it. If you have, then see it again.  Kubrick may well have been an unstable wingnut, but he was a genius as well. Interesting note…this film premiered on the day I was born, in the year I was born. I hope thats where the coincidences end…